Loyalty helped Chris Andersen stay with Heat

Here’s the South Florida Sun Sentinel reporting on the Heat. Note that while loyalty probably was a factor, we have to assume that nice money was a factor. Anyway, here’s the Sun Sentinel:

Just as LeBron James cited going home as a reason for his free-agency return to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chris Andersen said Saturday among the reasons he re-signed with the Miami Heat was because South Florida felt like home.

“It was definitely the loyalty from the fans and from the team,” said the Texas native who signed a two-year, $10.3 million contract with the Heat last month. “That had a big part of it. And it’s matter of me ending my career in a place that I’d be happy at and am familiar with.”

Andersen’s popularity was evident during his Saturday promotional appearance at the grand opening of the new Dick’s Sporting Goods location in Coral Springs, as he was mobbed by fans during an afternoon autograph session, with fans, including a few Birdman lookalikes, arriving before daybreak. The store’s supply of bracelets needed for his autograph was exhausted well before his arrival.